


The Last Argument

by Philosopher_King



Series: Angsty Zuko-centric Vignettes [2]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Episode: s03e18-21 Sozin's Comet, Gen, I didn't even realize it until I started reading fic, Internal Monologue, Ozai's A+ Parenting, The Gaang doesn't know about the scar, Zuko (Avatar) Angst, Zuko (Avatar)-centric, Zuko's Scar (Avatar), apparently that's a common fic theme, how is that not a tag here?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-05
Updated: 2020-04-05
Packaged: 2021-02-28 22:34:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 927
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23494660
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Philosopher_King/pseuds/Philosopher_King
Summary: "Zuko had given Aang every argument he could muster for why he had to kill the Fire Lord. Ozai was dangerous. Ozai was unrepentant. He was determined to finish what his grandfather Sozin had started: to bring the whole world under his dominion. He would never even contemplate surrender. He was willing to sacrifice any number of innocent lives to achieve his aims. [...]"In spite of all Zuko’s arguments, Aang held firm. All life was sacred, no matter how destructive or guilty. He would not kill."Zuko had one more argument held in reserve, but he wavered over whether he should use it."
Relationships: Aang & Zuko (Avatar), Ozai & Zuko (Avatar)
Series: Angsty Zuko-centric Vignettes [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1718329
Comments: 37
Kudos: 925





	The Last Argument

**Author's Note:**

> Zuko's thoughts during Book 3, ep. 18, "Sozin's Comet Part 1: The Phoenix King."
> 
> Has this been done yet? It feels like it must have been done.

Zuko had given Aang every argument he could muster for why he had to kill the Fire Lord. Ozai was dangerous. Ozai was unrepentant. He was determined to finish what his grandfather Sozin had started: to bring the whole world under his dominion. He would never even contemplate surrender. He was willing to sacrifice any number of innocent lives to achieve his aims. He was responsible for so much destruction and pain, from the fall of Omashu and Bumi’s cruel, humiliating imprisonment to the sick and starving children in the Fire Nation town on the polluted river.

In spite of all Zuko’s arguments, Aang held firm. All life was sacred, no matter how destructive or guilty. He would not kill.

Zuko had one more argument held in reserve, but he wavered over whether he should use it. First of all, it felt low—dishonorable—to turn this weighty decision into a matter of personal revenge, whether Aang’s or his own. It wasn’t why he wanted Ozai dead—not really. For the past three years, revenge had been the last thing he wanted. He had prayed every sunrise and sunset for his father’s good health and fortune, for his victory in every battle, for his long reign and everlasting glory. For his forgiveness and approval (never for his love; Agni was generous, but it was possible to ask too much). The facts of the past had not changed, even if Zuko now viewed them in a new light. If the deed had not merited death then, why should it now?

It also seemed low and dishonorable to use this piece of honesty and vulnerability to push for an external aim. The implicit promise to tell Aang someday—when he was ready—was a piece of the bond of trust they had been building. It should be shared only for the sake of that bond, to strengthen it by braiding in another strand of intimate truth, not for some instrumental purpose—much less to try to persuade or provoke Aang to sacrifice his principles, the principles of his murdered people. Such a use of this important truth, he feared, could fray or even break the thread of trust that Aang had extended to him, that he had worked so hard to earn and preserve.

Anyway, there was no guarantee that this argument would work where all the others had failed, or even tip the scales when the weight of the rest had been insufficient. Ozai was responsible for far worse things that Aang already knew about: the death, maiming, or displacement of thousands in the Earth Kingdom and the Water Tribes, North and South. If none of that was enough to warrant the Fire Lord’s death, why should one more maiming make a difference? And would it matter to Aang that it was Ozai’s own son, when ties of blood had meant so little to the Air Nomads? Truly, what difference _did_ it make? Surely there were thousands of children in the Earth Kingdom with scars not unlike his. Should it matter that theirs were inflicted only on Ozai’s orders, not by his own hand? Or that the people who burned them were strangers who otherwise meant nothing to them? If this last argument would not add anything to what Aang already knew, it was not worth the risk that this cheapening use of the truth Zuko had not yet entrusted to his new allies and companions—someday, perhaps, his friends—would damage their trust and respect for him.

But was that really what he feared, he asked himself—that even if it worked, the cynical ploy would diminish him in their eyes? Or did he rather fear what it meant if it _wasn’t_ enough to change Aang’s mind: that he wasn’t worth avenging? Yes, it would be dishonorable to use such a raw, painful truth about his past to provoke the Avatar to anger, to make it personal, to make it about the people close to him (the people he loved?). But would it not be worse if it _didn’t_ move him to bloody vengeful rage? If learning who was responsible for Zuko’s scar—for all his pain, desperation, and destructive self-hatred—changed nothing? The others told him that Aang had lost control and almost killed the sandbenders who had stolen Appa. Perhaps Zuko should not take it so hard if it turned out that he meant less to Aang than the bison, who was, after all, his oldest living friend and closest, most faithful companion. But he knew how hard he would take it, and he couldn’t afford to risk taking such a wound on the eve of the most important battle of all of their lives.

So Zuko would hold his tongue, and pray at sunset and sunrise that Aang would find the sense and the strength to do what needed to be done. He would pray for the Avatar’s good health and fortune, for his victory in the battle to come, for his long, peaceful, glorious reign (or whatever an Avatar’s term of service was supposed to be called). He would pray for the strength to do his part in the fight at hand. He would pray that all his companions—his friends—would survive, and that he would have the chance to tell them in the right way, at the right time.

And if Aang reproached Zuko for not telling him before he confronted Ozai, so that he could come before him with a full accounting of his crimes? Well. So much the better.

**Author's Note:**

> Zuko does say to the Gaang in 3.18 that Ozai is "the worst father in the history of fathers," but it's not clear whether that's in reference to presumed common knowledge about the scar. I'm going with the apparent fandom consensus that he doesn't tell them until post-canon, because it's more fun and angsty that way.


End file.
